Matcha's Spot-On Recommendations the Reason for Apple's Acquisition

Earlier in the week we reported that word got out that Apple had bought Matcha.tv back in May, which now appears to be the cause for its sudden disappearance from the App Store following its acquisition. (Compare this, too, to how Apple left HopStop up after acquiring it.) And now we know why the Cupertino giant acquired it: it simply gave the Apple the recommendations it really wanted.

Recommendation services have become common to many sites and platforms, but Matcha's somewhat unique take on the concept that was it pulled information from services like Netflix, iTunes, Hulu, and Amazon Prime in order to deliver video recommendations that reflected the user's true interests.

Dijit, Fanhattan, and Squrl offer similar services, but Matcha.tv appears to have handily defeated them when it comes to delivering the content users want. In the words of TechCrunch, "Matcha's pairing algorithms that drove the right content to the right users simply worked best of any other apps competing in that space, the source affirms."

Apple apparently also spent quite a bit more money on the acquisition than was originally thought. When the news broke earlier in the week, the number being tossed around were "$1 million and $1.5 million," but now TechCrunch reports that the true numbers lies somewhere between $10 to $15 million.

An interesting acquisition, now matter how you look at it. And while the video service's acquisition might seem in keeping with Apple's sudden attention given to Apple TV, it's possible the Cupertino giants plans to use the algorithm for app and music recommendations as well.